Political reflections

So apparently the nation is in full campaign mode. We saw so many state political ads cluttering the Olympics broadcasts over the last two weeks I wanted to scream. Four out of every five commercials were endorsing or slamming -- mostly slamming -- a political candidate.

Which makes this clip from last night's Daily Show especially timely. During this campaign season, let's all take a look in the mirror, people.

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
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Meanwhile ...

Paul Ryan was announced as Mitt Romney's running mate over the weekend, and I couldn't help but laugh at The Onion's run of stories about Mr. Ryan this week.

I had some opportunities to meet him, interview him and see him in action during my former life as a newspaper reporter. I'll say this, he's a good man and I have a lot of respect for him. ... Which makes the last article I've posted here even more entertaining to think perhaps I just fell under his spell.

a Focus: Who Is Paul Ryan?
a Ryan Begins Attacking Romney's Record As Massachusetts Governor
a Paul Ryan: Admit It, I Scare The Ever-Loving Shit Out Of You, Don't I?

On Wisconsin

I sat up and started taking notice on a Friday more than a week ago. Feb. 18.

Sitting at the desk in my office, I started taking notice of all the tweets and status updates rolling in about protesters converging on the Madison Capitol building. Having just finished watching days of unrest in Egypt, it appeared as though another rebellion -- with major backing, like the situation in Cairo, from social media users -- was about to play out in our old backyard.

I texted Kates. "I'm thinking Wisconsin is going to go all Egypt on Gov. Walker."

Then again, Paul Krugman smartly wrote the situation has more similarities to Baghdad in 2003.

Even as we sit miles away, Kates and I have been paying close attention to the news coming out of Wisconsin since that first Friday about Walker's budget bill, which would severely limit the bargaining power of public employees. News feeds and Facebook connections keep us uprised of the latest developments. Several of our family members and close friends have participated in the marches protesting Walker's proposal. And if we still lived there, there's a good chance we would have been marching, too.

It saddens us to see unions and public workers so discounted. Ok, livid when we read and watch some of the news reports. Kates has been moved to tears ... The fact that it's causing such divide in family circles and busting friendships is heartbreaking.

I get that budgets need to be balanced, tough choices need to be made. Every state faces the same dillemma. But as so many journalists have noted, there are other ways to solve the budget crisis in Wisconsin. And union workers already have offered finacial concessions. ... Whether the 14 Democratic Senators who fled the state to defy a vote on the measure are acting nobly or cowardly is another debate.

Growing up and preparing for our careers, Kates and I never saw ourselves as union people. Never in a million years. ... But eventually, each of us slipped into a union as part of our respective jobs -- she as a teacher, me as a journalist -- and both of us saw the immense benefits of unions first hand.

It's not a matter of having extra powers over employers or non-union workers. Believe me, there were limits to participating in a union that flustered me, too ... Rather, it's a matter of having the basic right to negotiate for benefits and wages. Plain and simple. It's a benefit all employees would be lucky to have.

And the idea that teachers have it easy because the kids leave at 3 in the afternoon and they have summers off? Don't get me started about the early mornings and late nights Kates spends at her school in meetings, conducting parent-teacher conferences or preparing projects. Or the nightly paper-grading sessions on the couch. Or the Sunday afternoons she spends in her classroom preparing for the next week. I'm only scratching the surface.

Now, I've joined the public education sector. Not because I thought it would be easy -- I'm working harder now than I ever have in my career -- but because I find it exciting. It's an area I'm passionate about, proud to be part of, and I want to make a positive impact on young people.

We'll continue to watch the debate closely.

Good stuff ...
a Majority in Poll Back Employees in Public Sector Unions
a The Best Wisconsin Protest Signs
a The Open Capitol blog
a Union Bonds in Wisconsin Begin to Fray
a Thank You for Your Support. Now, Can We Sweep the Capitol?

The Daily Show's coverage of the debate has been marvelous. Our pal Jon Stewart is behind us.

The Daily Show - Crisis in Dairyland - Message for Teachers
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Cramer vs. Stewart

EW suggested we watch Jon Stewart's Jim Cramer smackdown again ...

So tonight we did. It it was still just as good.

Without a doubt, it's probably one of my favorite things Jon Stewart's ever done -- next to serving tea to Pervez Musharraf.

It was more than time for someone to stick it to Cramer and CNBC, and Stewart's clash is an instant classic ...

Here's more about it ...
a Jon Stewart puts spotlight on CNBC and meltdown
a High Noon on the Set: Cramer vs. Stewart
a It's true: Jon Stewart has become Edward R. Murrow

CC, Blago and the slow death of newspapers

What a week, huh.

CC Sabathia went ahead and signed with the Yankees for a gazillion dollars. Dang, I was sure he had found a home in Milwaukee ...

Newspapers are continuing their slow death ... The Detroit newspapers are cutting deliveries. The Rocky Mountain News appears to be in serious trouble. And the Chicago Tribune is filing for bankruptcy.

Oh, and Rod Blagojevich is the laughing stock of the country ... As I told one of my editors this week -- we've been hearing all the talk of corruption and a possible indictment for months. But of all the things they'd get him for, we never expected it to be for selling the senate seat.

... Good thing I have another D-II National Championship game featuring my ol' Northwest Missouri State Bearcats to cheer me up.

Here's some reads about the Tribune's plight ...
a Tribune Co. Mulling Bankruptcy
a Downturn creates drama at NBC
a Roger Ebert: Trib bankruptcy a Zell of a deal
a Keeping calm about the Tribune's bankruptcy
a Tribune Co.'s crisis has been years in making

And here's some good stuff about Blago ...
a The indictment
a Tuesday was a great day in Illinois, a thrilling day, an exciting, hopeful day; one of the few happy days we've had lately.
a Portrait of a Politician: Vengeful and Profane
a Shakedown plot alleged by feds: U.S.: $50,000 sought from hospital chief
a Happy birthday, Guv — How about a little self-exam?
a Governor Blagojevich, resign
a Chicago Tribune withheld publishing at U.S. Atty. Patrick Fitzgerald's request
a Blagojevich sought firing of Chicago Tribune editorial writer in exchange for Wrigley Field deal
Also, it's been super-amusing to watching guys like David Letterman and Jon Stewart make fun of his hair and stumble over the pronunciation of his name. It's not that hard to say, people!

a Jon Stewart: Illinois graft 'nothing new'
a Jon Stewart on "The Daily Show": "Blagojevich is a [parental advisory here]."
a Stephen Colbert on "The Colbert Report": "It's going to take a huge bribe to get him out of this one."
a David Letterman on "The Late Show": "One count of Blagojeviching."

McCain's new stump speech

... So I'm taking a "me" day today.

I shipped Phoebe to daycare this morning and then came home. I'm not going into work today. I took a day off ...

But in between catching up on e-mail and some reading, doing some home repair, laundry and running errands ... the day has gone way too fast.

I did also get to catch up on some TV, and last night's Daily Show segment featuring John McCain's new stump speech was ha-larious ...

Sunday reading

I'm watching the final game at Yankee Stadium tonight. What else could I possibly watch? Tonight's Emmys or the Packers-Cowboys game couldn't possibly be this good ...

OK, maybe I'll flip over to catch a little of the Packers game.

... I've had ESPN's coverage on for most of the day, and the pre-game ceremonies are underway as I type this ...

It's pretty awesome to see the greats together on one field. We may love to hate 'em, but this is truly their night.

If there were any blemishes, think the whole idea of having actors trot onto the field as the starting lineup for the 1923 was a little ill-conceived. Every fan and player the cameras showed seemed to be thinking the same thing: "Uh, this is kind of lame, I hope the whole ceremony isn't like this."

That, and I got a kick out of the AIG billboard in center field that reads: "The strength to be there." ... Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.

On a night when everybody's sharing their favorite Yankee Syadium memories, mine has to be the 2001 World Series -- the aftermath of 9/11, the late-inning home runs, playing in November, Derek Jeter ... Aaron "Bleepin' " Boone's home run to win the 2003 pennant would have to be a distant second...

Here's the collection of good reads that caught my interests during the last week ...

Baseball & sports ...
a Last rites for the Cathedral
a Melancholy in Bronx, but Not Because of Stadium
a Yankees Don’t Want Fans to Be Doing the Demolition ... The guy mentioned in the lede must be a piece of work.
a Cubs warm to idea of new park ... I'm thinking Carlos Zambrano and the Cubs were just drunk on adrenaline from Carlos's no-hitter. You can't tear down Wrigley.
a 104-year-old Cubs fan won't get to toss first pitch
a Finally, this could be Santo's year
a Could Sabathia and Ramirez win in new league? ... If they did, I would love it.
a Rodgers on right track ... This one come from my friend Raechel. Indeed, Aaron Rodgers has been impressive.
a Rodgers slips farther out of Favre's shadow

TV ...
a Series get a new post-strike lease on life
a With Tina Fey's impersonation of Gov. Sarah Palin a smash, will she make an 'SNL' encore? ... the question of the week.
a NBC's 'Heroes' delves into villains
a 'Heroes' tries to recover from truncated sophomore season
a Michael Emerson's 'Lost' world

Music ...
a A Jukebox on MySpace That Takes Aim at Apple
a A Total End To an Era In Pop Videos
a Richard Wright dies at 65; founding member of Pink Floyd

Media & the Internet ...
a Are 'Real' Journalists Jealous of Jon Stewart? ... Especially now during this presidential campaign, I look forward to watching The Daily Show more than ever ...

Politics ...
a Pointing fingers on the economy ... This is a good one outlining the truths and fibs of both campaigns in the light of last week's banking mess.
a Lipstick Bungle ... EX-cellent read.

"In a New York Times/CBS News poll conducted this week 77 percent of Republicans said that they had a favorable opinion of Palin. But when asked what specifically they liked about her, their top five reasons were that she was honest, tough, caring, outspoken and fresh-faced. Sounds like a talk-show host, not a vice president. (By the way,
her intelligence was in a three-way tie for eighth place, right behind “I just like her.”)

a McCain’s Radical Agenda ... This one's about health insurance.
a McCain Camp Calls Fey’s Palin Impersonation ‘Sexist’ ... oh, c'mon!
a Sarah Palin installed a tanning bed at the governor's mansion
a What kind of accent is that, anyway?
a Hillary fans aren't bonding with Palin
a A Letter About Sarah Palin ... my friend Matt tipped me off to this one. Very insightful.
a Gibson and the 'Good-Looking' Governor
a Hackers break into Palin's e-mail account
a The Big 'What If'
a Here's a dilemma: smitten by both Obama and Palin ... Kathleen Parker makes some good points.

Life & other stuff ...
a The Joneses and the Joads
a Tooth fairy gives less during credit crunch ... This also is a good one from my friend Matt about how the economy is affecting one profession.
a Wax Hitler returns to museum after beheading ... Another from my friend Raechel.
a 50 years later, Rockwell's 'Runaway' is still an arresting image ... Cool story. This is the second one in three weeks I've found about a Rockwell painting. Thinking about it, Norman Rockwell might very well be my favorite artist of all time.

The Onion ...
a Hey, Where Did All My Stuff Go?

Sunday reading

... I just "elfed" myself ... Check this out.

Here's some of the good reads that caught my eyes this week ...

Sports & Baseball ...
a On the Mark: Pats flat-out dominant
a Cubs to miss savvy McDonough
a McDonough's successor? Cubs let new owner decide
a He can't lose, but can he win?
a Glavine Returns to Braves With $8M Deal ... Good for him. I never thought he should have left the Braves in the first place ...
a Voting for MLB awards needs to change hands ... This guy's Colorado bias aside, the lack or Rockies winning postseason awards just isn't right.

TV ...
a A Looser Lucifer: Ray Wise Is Having A Helluva Good Time Playing the Devil ... Ray Wise does play a good devil. Although, I removed "Reaper" from our DVR a couple weeks ago, thinking I've seen enough and the show wasn't going anywhere. Sure the adventures were sort of amusing, but, to me, none of the episodes I was seeing were as good as the pilot. I saw it turning into the same thing week after week. And I couldn't take anymore of watching poor Sam agonizing over Andi ... I may return to the show some day. But for now I'd rather spend my Tuesday nights doing other things ...
a Prime Time for Reading? Survey Looks at Viewers' Plans During Strike ... Personally, I'm enjoying the writer's strike for the reprieve from constant TV-watching. I've been able to catch up on some reading and enjoy a whole lot of music ... If only it were so easy to turn off the TV without a writer's strike ...

Music ...
a Neil Diamond reveals 'Sweet Caroline' is about Kennedy daughter ... Arguably the most amusing news of the week ... I long for the day I get to experience singing this song among the Red Sox Nation at Fenway ...
a Music Q&A: Colbie Caillat gets 'Bubbly' ... Kates thinks she'll be a one-hit wonder. I guess we'll see ...

The Internet ...
a Educators weigh merits of social network sites
a Heads are turning to Facebook
a How to punish a cyber-bully

Politics & media ...
a 'Daily Show' host doomed to relive past ... The Musharraf interview still ranks as one of the more memorable things I've seen on The Daily Show ... ah, well.
a In San Jose, Downsizing With Dynamite
a Web Sites Tear Down That Wall
a Neatness counts ... Brian Williams' post and quips on the subsequent broadcast were pretty amusing too ...
a Drew Peterson case: Bright lights, big hassle for neighbors
a In a Watched Society, More Security Comes With Tempered Actions

Sunday reading

A likely conversation between some of our neighbors this afternoon as they watched me in our front yard ...

(Imagine an honory elderly woman)

Harold, look across the street! That man's spreading chicken wire all over his flower beds. What is he doing that for!?

(A little while later ...)

Now's he's spraying something too! What's in Sam's name is he doing over there!? He's ruining his yard!

Yes. Our front yard now looks, for lack of a better term, a little retarded.

See, I spent most of yesterday planting nearly 100 bulbs in our front and back gardens. But we also have some of the boldest and brash squirrels you've ever known in our neighborhood, a learned trait I attribute mostly to one of our neighbors who feeds the little pests ... These squirrels, which are black by the way, have proceeded to bury food, dig up and wreak havoc on much of what I've planted all summer long. And today, I came outside to finds holes, like an expired mine field, throughout the areas I'd planted.

So I declared war.

Today, I finished planting the bulbs I had left, and tried replanting the ones I found scattered. Covered the areas with a wire mesh. And then doused everything with Critter Ridder ...

Got a lot of funny looks from people passing by (including one elderly woman who, after I explained what I was doing, said she's had the same problems in her yard and has given up her fight -- but she jubiliantly wished me luck and said she'd try to scare them off for me whenever she walked by ...), but at this point I'm desperate.

Here's some of the good reads that have my eye the last few days ...

Politics ...
a Al Gore: the anti-Bush
a Obama: Clinton 'mission accomplished' premature

Entertainment ...
a Viacom to offer all clips of 'Daily Show' online
a Shadows linger in late-night TV succession
a Leno keeping NBC up at night

a Chicago Theatre to be sold to major New York producer

Music ...
a Joy Division is multiplying

Baseball ...
a Playoffs now born to be wild
a Fans pay for networks' strategy; Manny strikes a pose
a Beckett's focus, the turning point, Manny's nonsense
a World Series-bound Rockies have captivated Denver
a10 toughest coaching jobs in sports
a Yanks look disorganized, cowardly after Torre's exit
a Despite fair offer, Torre knew it was time to go
a Injuries not markedly greater using alloy bats compared with wooden models
a Steroids: Take one for the team
a 50 years of Dodger baseball

Life & other stuff ...
a Boys' deaths altered Chicago
a BACK OFF! I'M NOT DEAD YET.
a Honey, I promise to love, honor and argue
a Mounting evidence finds even moderate drinking may increase your risk of breast and colon cancer
a What's happened to the missing socks?
a Show us your Google Street View Chicago finds

The Onion ...

Conceptual Terrorists Encase Sears Tower In Jell-O

CHICAGO—The attackers made it clear America's outdated notion of terrorism has been challenged, and that true terror lies in the futility of human existence.

Patriots Stunned By Mere 17-Point Victory

BOSTON—The Patriots organization is reeling this week following their narrow 34-17 victory over the lowly Browns, taking stock of their game-planning methods, philosophy, and indeed their entire season in the aftermath of a game in which...

Torre, Steinbrenner Have Most Awkward Bathroom Encounter Of Their Lives

NEW YORK—The tension and unspoken hostility between Yankees manager Joe Torre and owner George Steinbrenner following the New York Yankees'...

Staying up late

... So I was all excited to watch The Daily Show last night to see how Jon Stewart was going to lampoon Alberto Gonzalez ... The embattled Attorney General was only one of the Show's most interesting and funniest storylines this summer ("I do not recall ...") ...

And last night's episode was a rerun! Grrrrrrrrr.

You owe us Stewart.

Good Gonzalez-related reads ...
a Lonely at The Top: For the President, Confidants Are Lacking
a Analysis: Gonzales a Lesson in Cronyism

But hey, how about the Feist performance on Letterman last night. Very cool!

I was so impressed I downloaded the album this morning ... and I'm loving it.

Check it out ... (The studio music video is even cooler ...)

Seen and heard

... Kates has had a lot of homework all week. Which leaves me downstairs in my cave watching baseball (except for tonight. The Cubs played earlier today and no one else is on tonight. So I'm blowing through some good music) ...

The best nights, of course, are when there's multiple games on and I can flip to my hearts content. Last night, I caught a little of the replay of the afternoon's Brewers-Giants game, then flipped over to ESPN for the Red Sox-Braves game, and finally settled on the Cubs-Rangers game ...

The best part: Catching Sammy Sosa's 600th homerun. Watching him connect with the ball, the hop, the blown kisses ... Forgetting for a few moments how it all ended in Chicago and how much we loved cheering him on for a few of those summers, it was hard not to let a smile leak out while he rounded the bases and took repeated curtain calls ...

* * *

Just days ago, I was watching with a certain interest and marveling at an interview featuring Brian Williams with New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg and the speculation that he could be a strong candidate for the presidency ...

Then word comes today that he's backing away from the Republican party. Now that makes that interview even more interesting ... A breath of fresh air indeed.

Though I'm skeptical that he could give the already so-established candidates a good run for 2008. Somebody, a few of them, would have to take a hard fall ... 2012 perhaps?

* * *

On the radio the other day I heard that NBC is courting Jon Stewart as a possible replacement to Jay Leno on the Tonight Show ...

My ears immediately perked up. As the story I heard was reported: NBC is having second thoughts about Leno handing over the reigns to Conan, and the network is trying to lure Stewart to NBC to either replace Leno, when he supposedly leaves the Tonight Show in 2009, or NBC could convince Leno to stay and Stewart would take the post-Leno slot currently held by Conan ... Either way, it sounds like NBC wants to say bye-bye Conan ...

Initally, I'm thinking this is a smart move for NBC ... Maybe it's just me getting older, but I've grown increasingly annoyed with Conan during the last couple years. Much of his material is unoriginal, juvenile and well, not funny (Really, how many more nights can he spend morphing celebrity mugs together to show us what their kids might look like ... I hate those segments.) His interviews don't flow, and too often he interrupts his guests and turns the focus on himself ... A few years ago, I was in the camp who thought Conan was the next best thing on late night TV. Now, I'm only tuning in if he's got a guest I really want to see, and then I'm fast-forwarding through the rest of the show ...

On the other hand, I'm thinking, and hoping John Stewart doesn't take the bait and remains true to The Daily Show I've come to loooooooove over the last couple years (thanks DVR!)

* * *

On the news the other night, I caught a report that the Vatican had come up with its own set of the Ten Commandments ...

For driving ...

I love it! ... especially No. 5: Cars shall not be for you an expression of power and domination, and an occasion of sin.

* * *

A conversation at work this week, as Fleetwood Mac's "Don't Stop" played through the small speakers of our corner's iPod ...

"I hate Fleetwood Mac."

Me: "You hate Fleetwood Mac?"

"Well, I don't hate Fleetwood Mac. I just don't like this album."

Me: "Really! Not a big fan of the Rumours album, huh? ... It's one of my favorite albums of all time!"

"No. I mean, I had it, and I listened to it like 4 billion times --"

Me: "Which I'm in the process of doing right now."

"Yeah, so I just can't stand to listen to it anymore."

I'm hoping I never get to that point.

Seriously? What'd you expect?

Alright folks ... What's with all the complaining today about last night's Academy Awards (here and here)!?... I thought they were pretty entertaining, and I don't look forward to it and plan parties the way other people I know do ...

Seriously, was it really that big of an upset that 'Crash' beat out 'Brokeback Mountain?' Sure, 'Brokeback Mountain' had the buzz but everything I've read and heard the last couple weeks pointed to 'Crash' winning the Oscar for best picture. So, no surprises here. (For the record: I haven't seen either film. Heck I've hardly seen any of the films nominated last night. But the 'Crash' DVD is sitting next to our DVD player -- loaned to us with high regard prior to last night's Awards -- and ready to be viewed as soon as we can find a couple hours out of our busy lives ...)

And what's with all the pouting about Jon Stewart's performance. Sure, it was a little more respectful and reserved than his typical banter on 'The Daily Show.' But look at his audience last night. Hollywood. Primetime. ABC. Enough said. ... Stewart last night was funny enough, people.

Of the things being said today that I will agree with ... George Clooney's acceptance speech. Yes, classy -- and comical. ... Acceptance speech music. Yep. Threw me off too. And indeed unfair to the winners. ...

Favorite moment: Reese Witherspoon finally gets an Oscar or as Kim Morgan puts it "Reese grows up." ...She's come a long way from 'Pleasantville' and 'Election' baby!

At Least They Didn't Take…

Our DVR.

Apparently they were too weak after ripping out our DVD player and loading up on my sports collectibles that they couldn’t carry the DVR too.

Thank goodness for that. I guess.

And thank you to the smarty who came up with the ‘ol DVR and his cousin TiVo.

Kates and I treated ourselves to one as an early Christmas present -- mostly because we’d been thinking about it for months and the cable co. gave us a good deal …

We still won’t be watching any DVDs for awhile … But from now on (hopefully), we can forget rummaging through VHS tapes or accidentally recording over something we’d meant to save, all so we could tape another show we’re unable to watch.

Yes, now we can set our precious little silver box to automatically record each and every episode all of our favorite TV shows. And then watch them freely, after work, before bed, or the next day! And we can skip the commercials!!

No longer do we have to pick just one show to watch at 8 p.m. on a Tuesday when there’s three that we want to see. And we can join in on all the shows we’ve been hearing about for years -- like ‘The Daily Show’ (which I LOVE by the way!) -- but haven’t watched because of allegiances to other shows or schedules that won’t allow it …

Wonderful, I know.

Yep. So last night -- a night that, for the past three or four years, at least, a videotape always seemed to be rolling in our house -- I waited for Kates to come home from her exercise class. And when she did, around 8 p.m., we turned back the clock -- on our TV anyway -- and watched our NBC favorites. ‘Will & Grace,’ ‘Four Kings,’ (we skipped ‘Earl.’ Frankly, I can’t understand what all the buzz is about. I watched the premiere and didn’t even chuckle. Seriously. And then when they moved it to Thursdays, I tried again, thinking maybe it would be better. Not a chance. Help me out somebody? …) ‘The Office,’ and then since ‘ER’ was a repeat we caught up on Tuesday’s nights showings of ‘Scrubs’ …

And both of us were zonked out on our couch before the end of it …